Burying the Past
by shadowkitsune95
Summary: Sometimes, no matter how fast or how far you run, you're past still manages to catch up
1. Chapter 1

**ShadowKitsune95: Yeah I know, the last thing I need is another story, but for reasons I'm not even sure of, I'm really excited about this fic. I had fun writing it. So...yeah, I hope you enjoy and if you do make sure you thank my muse, she helped me loads.**

**Disclaimer: Saiyuki doesn't belong to me, however the idea for this story along with Amaya Sawada, Noboru, and Hisoka do. Saiyuri Aizawa belongs to my dear twin face Kris Kaulitz -Untouched-**

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The day started out normal enough – that in its self should have warned them that the day would not end well. The Sanzo group drove into the small village, looking forward to a good meal and a soft bed. It had been weeks since they had seen civilization and they were running low on food. "Food, food, food." Was the chant to which they made their way through town. Goku's stomach growled hungrily when the smell of freshly baked pork buns reached his nose. He jumped out of the jeep before it came to a complete stop and raced inside the inn, disappearing before anyone could say anything to stop him.

Sanzo sighed and flicked his cigarette onto the ground, grinding it out with the toe of his boots. He looked over his shoulder at his other traveling companions as they gathered their belongings and proceeded into the inn, followed by the newly transformed Hakuryuu. They made an odd group to be sure. A Sanzo priest, three demons posing as humans and two half-demons, with their pet transforming dragon definitely made them a hard group to miss.

Inside the inn, an old man stood behind the registration counter watching an anxious Goku jump up and down impatiently, waiting for the other members of the group. A small bell above the door announced their arrival, making the old man look up. He offered them a small smile. "Hello and welcome. How can I help you?"

Hakkai stepped forward, returning the man's smile with one of his own. "Hello. Is it possible for us to get three bedrooms, two beds in each?"

The man consulted the guest registration book before nodding. "Indeed you can. If you could just sign your names…" the man trailed off, pushing the book toward Hakkai. The brunette leaned over the counter and scrawled the names of each person he was traveling with onto the page.

The man glanced at the page when Hakkai was done. He then reached under the counter and pulled out three keys on separate chains. "Your rooms are on the second floor, the room numbers are on the keys. Just give me a holler if you need anything; my name's Noboru."

Hakkai took the keys and passed them out to the group. They started up the stair case, carrying their bags with them. Goku followed slowly behind, rubbing his stomach. "Sanzo, I'm hungry. When're we gonna eat?"

Sanzo scowled and half wished the monkey were just a few steps closer so that he could beat him with his fan. Unfortunately, Goku was behind him and down a few stairs. So instead Sanzo sighed and ignored him. This wasn't exactly the easiest this to do, the monkey was incredibly loud and whiney when hungry. Sanzo could feel a head ache beginning to form.

They reached the second floor and stood in the hallway trying to decide who would share a room with whom. Obviously the two girls, Amaya Sawada and Saiyuri Aizawa, would room together, but there was no way that Sanzo was going to share a room with a hungry, snoring monkey. That left either Gojyo or Hakkai…Sanzo pushed Goku towards Gojyo and stepped slightly toward Hakkai. "You're sharing with Goku." Sanzo demanded.

Gojyo glowered at him. "Why the hell do I have to share with the monkey?" He demanded.

"Not a monkey!" Goku growled, finally managing to drag himself away from his thoughts of food.

Sanzo rolled his eyes. "I don't care whether you're a monkey or a not, you're sleeping with Gojyo!"

Everyone stopped and stared at Sanzo. Sanzo blinked a few times, wondering why everyone was looking at him. When it finally sunk in he frowned and hit everyone over the head with his fan. "That's not what I meant you idiots!"

This sent everyone scrambling to the respective rooms in an attempt to escape the wrath of the irritated priest and his fan. Amaya and Saiyuri made it to their room first, slamming the door behind them as if they expected Sanzo to follow them. The two girls looked at each other before dissolving into laughter. It wasn't very often Sanzo said something like that, but it was priceless when he did.

After a minute Amaya darted across the room and launched herself at the closest bed. She smiled and bounced slightly on it, the bell attached to her power limiter jingled quietly. "Look Sai, a real bed!"

Saiyuri rolled her eyes at her friend's childish antics. She tossed her bag into a random corner and sat down on her own bed. She watched as Amaya dug through her bag, letting out a triumphant cry when she pulled out her latest book. "What's it about?" Saiyuri asked, gesturing to the tattered book.

Amaya held up the book. "This, my friend, is one of the best books ever written. It took me **forever** to find it."

"Ok," Saiyuri said. "First of all, that book looks like it's been through hell and back. And second, that didn't answer my question."

Amaya shook her head. "I wasn't finished. And, I'll have you know, this book is a classic…I had to get it from a used book store."

"Classics an understatement, that things friggin' ancient." Saiyuri sighed, already wishing she hadn't asked.

"Will you let me finish?"

"Depends, are you gonna answer my question?"

Amaya briefly glared at Saiyuri before sighing. "Fine, rush me then." Amaya swung around on her bed to face Saiyuri, holding the book up for the half-demon to see. "It's a love story. One of the greatest ones ever written. A young man name Hiroshi Toyota [1], is sent off to war shortly after meeting the love of his life. After a few years Hiroshi is just a few weeks away from being sent home when his division is sent on one of the most important missions ever. Unfortunately he dies before being able to return home to his love."

Saiyuri stared at her friend. There was no way Amaya had spent all that time trying to find a book as cliché as that one. "Gojyo found it for you didn't he?"

Amaya slumped slightly. "Yes." Amaya pouted and flopped down on her bed, facing the ceiling. "Every time I ask him to bring back a book when he goes shopping, he brings back a book like this." She said waving the book around in the air.

"Why don't you ask Hakkai to pick some out for you for a change then?" Saiyuri asked though she already knew the answer. This wasn't the first time the two had, had this conversation, in fact they seemed to have it every time they stopped in a village.

Amaya blushed slightly and covered her face with the book. Her voice slightly muffled by the book's thick cover, she said, "I don't want to be a burden."

Saiyuri rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't." She also leaned back in her bed, scooping up the menu that lay on the nightstand between the two beds. She skimmed the small black print, trying to decide what sounded good. Finally she settled on a vegetable dish with a beer. She passed the menu to Amaya. The demon glanced over, not looking to concerned with what was there. Eventually, she sat up and stretched. She got up and walked toward the door without asking Saiyuri what she wanted – chances were she'd known what her red haired companion would choose the moment she looked at the menu. What with Saiyuri being a vegetarian, it was usually pretty easy to guess.

An hour later found the two girls around the small table in their room enjoying a quiet meal, something that was hard to come by when you traveled with the Sanzo party. For once they didn't have to fight over food or worry about being shot by Sanzo. It was a nice change of pace. However, as usual, the quiet was doomed from the start. A long winded, high pitched scream of terror tore through the air, startling Amaya and making her drop her sake cup. The class shattered at her feet, sending sharp shards spinning across the room. The two ignored the glass and raced to the door, Saiyuri still gripping her beer in one hand. Sanzo, Hakkai, Goku and Gojyo had also appeared from their rooms.

"What the hell was that?" Gojyo asked. But of course none of them could give him an answer. The scream came again and this time the group was able to tell the direction. They raced down the stairs, ready for anything…or so they thought.

The six skidded to a halt at the bottom of the stairs. Blood coated the walls, pooling around the body staked to the registration table. The blood dripped onto the floor in steady streams of blood. By the looks of things, it had been gutted. Saiyuri leaned over and vomited, dropping her beer as she did so - sending glass into the thick coating of blood. _So much for dinner, _she thought as her stomach emptied its contents onto the wooden floors. Out of the corner of her eye, Saiyuri noticed a small boy, no older then five, standing in the doorway of the kitchen staring wide-eyed at the body. Tears fell down his cheeks; he seemed unable to look away from the gruesome sight before him.

Gojyo moved forward to get a closer look at the body, completely over looking the boy. He reached out and carefully wiped some blood off the face. The lanky red head withdrew his hand quickly, as if he had been burned. "It –It's Noboru." He said in disbelief.

Saiyuri straightened up, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. The movement caught Amaya's attention and she turned her head slightly, just enough to watch her best friend pick her way carefully across the blood soaked floor to a terrified boy. Saiyuri gently picked up the boy, hiding his face from the bloody scene. She turned and made her way back up the stairs with the boy crying into her shoulder. She took him to her and Amaya's room and set him on Amaya's bed. She wiped the tears away from his face only to have them quickly replaced by fresh ones.

"It's ok." Saiyuri whispered comfortingly. "What's your name?"

"H-hisoka." The boys sniffled.

Saiyuri smiled. "Hisoka, huh? I'm Saiyuri. Where are you're parents?"

This brought another wave of tears from Hisoka. "Th-they're dead…i-I was staying with my gr-grandpa."

"You're grandpa…you mean…" Saiyuri trailed off. So Noboru had been this kid's grandfather. Saiyuri winced slightly, the whole incident hitting a little to close to home. She took a deep breath and asked a question she wished she didn't have to. "Did you see anything, Hisoka?" The young boy shook his head frantically. "Please, Hisoka, I know it's hard but if you saw anything that might be able to help us find the person who did this, you have to tell us." But he continued to shake his head.

Saiyuri sighed and sat next to him on the bed. She pulled him into a hug. "I know it's hard, but you're grandpa's in a better place now and I'm sure he wouldn't want you to be so upset." She said soothingly.

"H-how do you know?" the boy hiccupped.

Saiyuri frowned thinking back to her own childhood. "I've been through…something similar. I found my brother in almost the exact same way." She replied sadly.

Hisoka rubbed his eyes with his small fists and looked up at the red haired woman who still hugged him. "I sorry." He whispered.

It was almost midnight by the time Amaya stumbled back into the room. She had spent the last few hours cleaning and helping the local doctor pry the stake out of Noboru's body in order to remove it from the desk. She had spent a half hour in the shower scrubbing the blood off her body and she still didn't feel clean –in fact she wasn't sure she ever would. Her wet hair hung loose, instead of in her usual braid and reached her waist. She played with her bangs absent-mindedly as she thought over the events of the night. She was so absorbed in her thoughts she almost missed Hisoka sleeping in her bed and would have sat on him had Saiyuri not thrown **'Hiroshi Toyota'** at her head.

Amaya winced as the book hit her in the side of the head before falling to the floor with a dull thud. She rubbed the now tender spot on her head as she turned to look at her friend. "What was **that** for?" she demanded. Saiyuri mearly waved a hand at the bed. Amaya turned to look, her annoyed look disappeared as she watched the small boy sleeping. She leaned over and pulled the blanket further over the sleeping child before joining Saiyuri where she sat at the table, still cluttered with the dishes from thier half eaten dinner. Amaya dropped thankfully into the chair. She propped her elbows on the table and rubbed her temples, colsing her eyes. However, she soon opened them again; while they were closed all she saw was Noboru's body pinned to the desk and pools of blood. "How's the kid?" She asked in an attempt to block the dark images.

Saiyuri shrugged. "How do you think? His grandpa's just been murdered and he was the one to find the body."

Amaya nodded slowly. "Yeah, sorry…just, ya know…trying to keep myself busy."

Saiyuri smiled sadly. "I know…" Both of them looked toward Hisoka as he mumbled in his sleep and rolled over, tears starting to wet Amaya's pillow.

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**1: ****'Hiroshi Toyota' ****is both the name of the main character and the name of the book Amaya is reading. The name was actually decided when I told my dear muse to pick two random words. The first one's she picked were butter cheese, but I couldn't really think up a story for that…well I suppose a rare cook book would've worked.**

**ShadowKitsune95: If anyone's to OOC please tell me; I'm still trying to get use to their characters.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Amaya watched helplessly as two demons stood over the lifeless body of the young girl, blood dripping from their claws. They slowly turned to face her. Amaya stumbled away from them, eventually tripping and falling backwards. She tore up the palms of her hands as she tried to catch herself. The two demons laughed mockingly as they approached their next victim. Amaya closed her eyes tightly, but a surprised cry of pain made her open them again. _

_The male demon writhed in agony, twisting in all directions in an attempt to reach the ax stuck between his shoulder blades. The female demon growled angrily and turned around to face their assailant, baring her teeth and lashing out with her sharp nails. The light haired girl ducked under the deadly claws and sunk a dagger into the female's leg. Amaya watched all of this with a sort of morbid fascination._

_The male demon was soon decapitated. He dropped in what seemed like slow motion, his head rolled to Amaya's side. His still open eyes, stared at her widely…they seemed to accuse her for their deaths. Moments later the female's dying scream echoed through the abandoned village. Her killer came to stand over Amaya. She held out a hand to the trembling girl, offering her a hand up – but the hand was covered in blood, the blood of her parents._

Amaya didn't remember falling asleep, not that she minded. It was the rather rude awakening that got to her. She had fallen asleep at the small kitchen table and could have stayed that way for quite some time had someone not yanked her chair back violently, causing her to tumble backwards out of it. Amaya hit her head on the frame of one of the inn beds, causing the world to momentarily darken. She shook her head and slowly sat up – what was with people and hitting her head?

Goku looked down at her, a smirk playing across his lips. "Mornin'!" He said, unusually happy after the events of last night.

Amaya briefly contemplated wiping the smirk off his face before deciding she didn't have the energy. She stifled a yawn and slowly stood up, wiping imaginary dust from her pants. She stretched slowly, resembling a cat after a long nap. She watched Goku out of the corner of her eye until she was done; she then turned to face him completely. "And what dragged the snoring wonder from his bed so early in the morning?"

Goku glared at her, but for once he didn't rise to the bait and instead walked to the window and threw open the shutters. "That." He said, pointing out the window. Amaya walked over and looked out curiously. In front of the inn was a gathering of villagers. They all seemed to be gathered to listen to a tall man, with a receding hair line and a cane that looked to have been carved from wood and polished. He stood, hunch backed, on top of a hastily erected platform.

The man cleared his throat noisily before addressing the crowd at large. "Last night a dear friend and neighbor was taken from us – murdered in cold blood and left to be found by his grandson, young Hisoka. Noboru was a good man and didn't deserve what fate planned for him last night. Unfortunately, the killer was never caught – this of course means it could only have been demon!"

A stout woman wearing a filthy apron raised her hand, but began to talk without waiting for anyone to acknowledge her. "What about a half-demon?"

The man snorted. "Ridiculous!" he snapped, banging his cane against the floor of the platform. "Half-demons have neither the skill nor the **brains** to pull off a scheme as perfectly as this demon did. I say we hunt down this demon, hang him by his toes and skin him alive." A cheer rose up from the crowd. "We will hunt down every demon near this village and rid ourselves of the vile creatures!"

Saiyuri stormed into the room, slamming the door loudly behind her."Can you believe this guy?" she shouted. "Maybe I should go pay him a visit! Then we'll see you doesn't have the brains or skills!" She fumed as she glared out the window at him.

"You almost sound disappointed that he doesn't suspect you." Amaya said calmly, watching the villagers run off to find what weapons they could.

Saiyuri shook her head. "That isn't it at all Amaya and you know it!"

"I know, Saiyuri." Amaya said calmly.

"What pisses me off is him thinking he's so much smarter just because he's not half anything!" Saiyuri said angrily.

Amaya smiled slightly. "I know, Sai."

Amaya was sure Saiyuri would've continued had the door not opened again. This time Sanzo, Hakkai, and Gojyo came in. Gojyo made himself comfortable on one of the two beds, while Hakkai began to pick up the dishes. Sanzo lit a cigarette, and stared out the window. "We should leave soon."

Amaya looked at him in disbelief. "What? Why?"

Sanzo blew a column of smoke out the window. He glanced at Amaya, before shifting his gaze back out the window to where the crowd had been just minutes before. "We're just asking for trouble staying here. Besides, it's none of our business…we need to head west."

"But they need our help." Saiyuri insisted, glaring at Sanzo.

Sanzo turned to them. "I'm not going to run around a village in the middle of fuckin' no where, looking for a demon that may or may not even be around anymore."

The room was silent. They all contemplated what Sanzo had just said, and while it made a strange sort of sense none of them were ready to just abandon the village whether it put them in danger or not. After all, it wasn't like danger was something they weren't use to. Amaya shook her head and walked out of the room saying over her shoulder, "Fine, you stay here then. **I'll** go look." Saiyuri gave Sanzo one last glare and grabbed Gojyo's arm. She pulled him out of the room with her after Amaya; they were closely followed by Goku.

Outside, in front of the inn, they were greeted by Hisoka. He shuffled his feet uncertainly before looking up at the group determinedly. "I wanna to go with you guys."

Gojyo shook his head. "No way, kid. You should just stay here, it's safer."

Hisoka straightened himself out to his full 3' 7" glory and puffed his chest out. "I'm not afraid." He said. "I want to find the one who did this to grandpa too!"

Gojyo glanced uncertainly at his two female companions, however, before they could decide on a safe course of action, Goku took things upon himself. "Aw come on guys, let him come!" Goku slung an arm around the boy's shoulder, a wide grin on his face. "I look out for him."

Amaya sighed and brushed past the two. "Fine, but if anything happens to him, I'm taking it out on you, monkey." Amaya threatened. Goku rolled his eyes, not really taking Amaya seriously. He'd start to worry when something actually happened - and what were the chances of that?

So the group of five wandered aimlessly through the town, searching high and low for any sign of anyone suspicious. By now though, the small village was crawling with people armed with everything from pitchforks to sewing needles – what they expected to do against a blood thirsty demon armed with sewing needles was anyone's guess. Amaya really couldn't see how any of these people would stand a chance against a demon that had obviously lost its sanity, but she admired their bravery none the less…even if it could eventually lead to their demise.

Slowly the search began to bore everyone, and Goku soon began to complain of hunger. At first his complaints went ignored, but you can only do this for so long before it finally starts to annoy you. Oddly enough, it was the usually calm and patient Amaya that snapped first. She drove her fist into the top of Goku's head, her eyebrow slightly twitching. "Will you shut up?" She growled. "No one forced you to come with us! If you're so hungry then run back to your dear Sanzo and bug him!"

"Quit it!" Goku howled pushing Amaya away. "What's your problem? All I said was I'm hungry!"

"Yeah, for the fiftieth time in as many minutes!" Amaya replied, cuffing the brunette over the head. Goku retaliated by tackling the taller demon. They fell onto the street; a plume of dirt kicked up by the impact momentarily obscured the two. During the brief blindness Goku grabbed what he thought was the collar of the woman's shirt. As Amaya tried to push him away, there was a slight jerk and the thing Goku had grabbed gave away. When the dirt settled back down, Goku stared in horror at his fist. Clutched tightly between his fingers was Amaya's power limiter.

"Oops…" He muttered. He scrambled to his feet and stared down at Amaya who still lay in the dirt, but now her demon form had been exposed. Her black cat like ears laid flat against her head and her sleek black tail twitched in irritation. Her demon birthmark appeared on the side of her neck.

"Goku you idiot!" Saiyuri hissed, hitting Goku over the head. The choker fell to the ground at his feet, the bell jingling a sorrowful tune.

Hisoka stared at the group of people in front of him. He slowly backed up shaking his head, hoping that what he was seeing wasn't real. The people who had helped him were demons. Gojyo looked over at him. "Hisoka." He said, reaching a hand out to the scared kid.

"Stay away from me!' He screeched, batting Gojyo's hand away from him. He turned and fled down the street, running as fast as his short legs would carry him.

Amaya reached for her limiter and secured it back around her neck. "This isn't good." She said as she stood up.

"Should we go after him?" Goku mused.

Saiyuri glared at him, fighting the urge to hit the monkey again. She figured he had enough brain damage as was. "No! You stay here; you've caused enough trouble as is!"

Amaya rolled her eyes. "Look, Sai and I will go after the kid. You and Gojyo go and fill Sanzo and Hakkai in on what's happened."

Gojyo winced slightly. "I can hear the gun shots now." He sighed. "He's not gonna be happy."

"I have a feeling that's an understatement." Amaya muttered taking off in the direction Hisoka had run in. Saiyuri followed behind her, mentally cursing the groups' ability at attracting trouble.


	3. Chapter 3

The two females ran down the narrow streets, searching for Hisoka. Amaya growled in frustration. How could a kid be so hard to find?

Saiyuri followed close on Amaya's heels. She hoped they found the scared child before he had the chance to tell someone. If not they would find themselves in an even greater amount of trouble then Goku's carelessness had already landed them in. "See anything?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

Amaya shook her head. The bell on her collar jingled with every step forward the demon took. She too feared what would happen if they didn't find Hisoka soon. She wasn't worried about the villagers – she could handle humans no problem. It was the moody priest and his banishing gun waiting back at the inn that had her concerned. She didn't doubt that if they should arrive back at the inn without having found Hisoka, Sanzo would have no problem with using her for target practice – he had of course warned them.

Speaking of moody priests with guns, everyone's favorite one was relaxing back in his room at the inn, sipping at his tea, reading the newspaper and just relishing the calm silence that was the inn without his obnoxious traveling companions. Sanzo had been alone for almost an hour, Hakkai having left to go shopping, and was just contemplating ordering some food from room service when the door was flung open and Gojyo and Goku stepped into the room. Sanzo groaned, it was like the monkey could hear the word food being thought anywhere within a twenty mile radius of where he stood.

Gojyo shifted uncomfortably and Goku remained quiet and close to the door. This alerted Sanzo to the fact that something was wrong. He folded the paper, set it aside and rubbed his temples. He could already feel a headache forming and they hadn't even begun to speak. "What'd you guys do?" He asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.

Goku elbowed Gojyo, prompting him to explain. Gojyo glared at the shorter boy but stepped forward. "Hioska's missing." He muttered.

Sanzo stared at him. "You mean to tell me that you came back and gave me a headache all because you lost the kid?"

"Well…the kid knows about Amaya."

"Knows what about Amaya?" Sanzo asked irritably.

"That's she's a demon." Goku supplied, making sure to leave out the part that would make this whole incident his fault.

Sanzo twitched. "So Amaya's been exposed as a demon in a village that's hell bent on killing any and all demons they come across?"

Gojyo nodded." Uh – yeah, sounds 'bout right." Seconds later a bullet flew by Gojyo's head, missing by mere inches. Gojyo jumped backwards as Sanzo aimed his Smith and Wesson again. Goku and Gojyo were then chased out of the room by more bullets as the pissed priest vented his anger.

Back out on the streets Amaya and Saiyuri still weren't having any luck. They were on the outskirts of the village where the trees of the surrounding forest began to encroach on the man made boundaries. It was only by luck that Amaya spotted a slight rustle in the nearby foliage. She pointed it out to Saiyuri who recognized it to be Hisoka trying, and not quite succeeding, in climbing a large tree with far spread branches. The red head moved forward and carefully scooped the kid up. He let out a surprised cry and proceeded to kick and wiggle, trying to escape. Saiyuri knelt down so Hisoka's feet were on the ground and held him to her tightly. "Hisoka, you have to calm down."

"Let me go, let me go!" The boy cried thrashing wildly in the half-demon's hold. "Demons are evil!"

"I'm part demon." Saiyuri admitted. "Do you think I'm evil?"

Hisoka shook his head. "You don't count. You're human too!"

Saiyuri frowned and tightened her hold. "Listen Hisoka, blood doesn't matter. No body should be judged on their blood alone. It's an incredibly insignificant thing – no one can help what they were born as." Hisoka froze, suddenly stopping his frantic attempt to free himself from the clutches of the red-haired demon.

Amaya stared at her friend. Those were words she had always thought to herself on multiple occasions; however she knew that's not how the world worked and she couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled up, escaping past her lips. Saiyuri glared at her, twitching slightly. "Amaya if I have to put a bullet through your head to make it more open, I will." She threatened.

Amaya shook her head slightly. "Saiyuri, I agree with what you said; it's not right that people are judged on blood alone, but people rarely take the time to see beyond someone's heritage these days."

Saiyuri released Hisoka and stood up. She quickly covered the space between them and punched Amaya, connecting with her right cheek. Amaya stumbled backwards stunned, not sure what to do. It wasn't often that Amaya was the one on the receiving end of her friend's wrath and it surprised her to be. She blinked a few times, raising her hand to tentatively touch her cheek. It throbbed slightly and a small voice in the back of Amaya's head, that generally went ignored, wondered if it would bruise and urged her to strike back. Amaya, as usual, ignored the voice and slowly straightened up to stare evenly at Saiyuri. The two squared off, the silence broken only by the occasional twittering from the birds.

Hisoka stared at the two. He was waiting for something to happen, for the demon to act out – to kill the nice women. However, it never happened. The demon backed down, shaking her head slowly and mumbling an apology. _How odd_, he thought, _why didn't she do it?_ He knew the answer. Saiyuri has said it herself…not all demons are evil. Hisoka walked forward to stand next to Saiyuri; he reached out and took the half-demon's hand. He wasn't going to run away from the demon, she wasn't the one who'd killed his grandpa…but he wasn't ready to be her new best friend.

Saiyuri smiled down at him and squeezed his hand lightly. "Come on; let's get back to the inn." She said. "I'm sure Sanzo's having a fit."

Amaya smiled and turned to walk away. "Yeah, we should probably go save the boys."

Upon reaching the inn, the returning trio was greeted by a relieved Gojyo and Goku, as well as a concerned Hakkai. He had returned not to long ago to find Gojyo and Goku cowering in their room, bullet holes riddling the walls in the hall. Eventually, he had been able to get the story from the Gojyo and Goku. He had been tempted to head out to help the girls find Hisoka, but figured that they knew what they were doing. None the less he was still relieved to see them coming up the street, accompanied by the five year old Hisoka.

"Thank god!" Gojyo said around the cigarette hanging between his lips. "Sanzo's in a horrible mood."

Amaya nodded. "We kinda figured he would be."

Hisoka smiled and dashed past them into the inn and up the stairs to the room Sanzo occupied. The five adults glanced uncertainly at each other before once again taking off after the kid. They reached the room after Hisoka and carefully entered, waiting for the sound of Sanzo's gun to fill the room. But it never came and they all stood staring at the scene before them. Hisoka was smiling up at Sanzo, offering him his pinky "I didn't tell and won't tell anyone about you guys, cross my heart and hope to dye."

Sanzo stared down at the kid, uncertain of what to do. After a minute he slowly reached out and wrapped his own pinky around the boys. "Don't worry," He said. "We'll find your grandpa's killer."

Later that night, Amaya and Saiyuri sat on the roof of the inn watching as the lights of the village slowly winked out as people settled into bed. They had crawled out of the window to talk so not to wake Hisoka, who had once again crashed on Amaya's bed. Said demon lay back on the shingled roof to stare at the star dotted sky above. She sighed and closed her eyes, running over the events of the day in her head. Today had been a close call…if Hisoka had told anyone about her than things could have quickly gotten out of control. Amaya really had no desire to hurt any humans.

"Sanzo really surprised me today." Amaya said for no particular reason other then to break the silence.

Saiyuri shrugged nonchalant. "He may act cold, but he's a big softie inside."

"For kids at least." Amaya smiled, opening her eyes.

Saiyuri laughed and lay down as well. The two friends grew quiet as they watched the stars as the village settled down into an uneasy sleep and a psychotic demon crept through the shadows.


End file.
